RECRUITING: Cougar Pride has Cali OT smiling

BARRY BOLTON

09/04/2011

IT'S ONE THING, says one of the official visitors from the prep ranks this past weekend to the Palouse, to hear about the Cougar Pride that envelops the team and community. But it's another thing entirely, the California offensive lineman says, to see it up close and personal.

"It was really great, I'm at the airport in Seattle right now. But the team is really close, it's a real family atmosphere out there at Washington State. There's a lot of pride," said Eduardo Middleton, a three-star offensive tackle prospect out of Oceanside, Calif. with double digit offers, including three from Pac-12 schools.

Middleton (6-5, 280) said potentially going to school in a college town was an appealing thought. He also said the sheer levels of crimson pride caught him off guard.

"You hear about their pride, but once you're actually there, it's something entirely different. You know they're big time hardcore fans there. I liked the college town feel, it's pretty much ideal," said Middleton.

So how'd he like the game, a 64-21 Cougar land rush?

Well, they did pretty good, they were only up 40-nil at the half, after all," he said. "I was watching my position for plays at times, those guys are definitely D-I guys, they're big…But I just enjoyed the game as a whole, really,"

"He showed me a good time, we met some of the other redshirt freshman, it was really fun. I met with pretty much all the coaches. I was talking to (o-line) coach (Steve) Morton a lot. And then Coach Razz (Rich Rasmussen) too who is my area recruiting coach. We sat down and watched some film and stuff. Mostly it was just talking about being there, it was all really good," said Middleton.

Middleton said he didn't commit and wasn't sure how recruiting would play out in the coming weeks – he wants to focus most in the here and now on his upcoming season.

Oceanside, the ninth-ranked team in the state, plays Chaparral this week.